Luke Humphries defeated prodigy Luke Littler 7-4 to become world champion for the first time.

Littler, 16, missed a double to lead the world No.1 5-2, then ‘Cool Hand’ Luke Humphreys, 28, returned to claim his fourth major title in just three months.

Littler, who gained a huge following with his stellar performances during the tournament, was vying to become the youngest world darts champion. The Junior World Championship started the championship in 164th place in the world rankings.

Humphries will receive £500,000 in prize money for winning the tournament, while Littler will receive £200,000.

The new champion told Sky Sports after the match: “To be honest, I was thinking in the back of my mind ‘take this now’ because he [Littler’s] will soon dominate the world of darts. I’m sure he’ll win a lot. He’s an incredible player and when I came close to winning he was relentless, but I was very, very proud of the game.

“That double eight at the end, I can’t lie, my hand was shaking like crazy. I’m the world champion, the number one racket in the world, I can’t ask for more. This makes it even more incredible because “there was a time in my life when I was very depressed and I couldn’t do it on the big stage and I had a lot of problems, so to be world champion is incredible.”

The 16-year-old debutant has been the star for Alexander Palace over the past two weeks but was left in tears after losing the Sid Waddell Trophy. He was given a hero’s welcome by the Ally Pally fans at the end of the game and looks set to have a solid place in the Premier League from next month.

The pair had previously met when Humphries defeated Littler, then 12, in a pub tournament in 2019. Since then, the pair have enjoyed rapid growth. At the end of the match, referee Russ Bray comforted a tearful Littler and Humphries fell to his knees in joy. The new champion has won the last 19 matches and four of the last five major tournaments.